The fraudulent shambles otherwise known as Florida's presidential poll is an affront to American democracy that must be urgently and scrupulously addressed. With an estimated 24,000 ballots in question after Tuesday's election and amid proliferating allegations of lost-on-purpose ballot boxes, bamboozled voters and disenfranchised minorities, the recount due to be completed last night cannot be the end of the matter.

Apart from the unresolved issues of whether or not there was deliberate malpractice in a state governed by Jeb Bush, brother of the Republican candidate, George W Bush, there is also the matter of absentee ballots cast by Floridians living in other parts of the US or abroad. The margin separating Mr Bush from the Democrat, Al Gore, while fluctuating, was a mere 795 votes at one point last evening, in Mr Bush's favour. With such a slim margin, with so many imponderables and so much at stake, all proper measures must be taken to restore shattered confidence in Florida's and America's electoral process.

Some individuals in Palm Beach county, scene of the most egregious irregularities, have already begun to file private lawsuits challenging the outcome. Mr Gore would also be fully justified in these extraordinary circumstances in lending his name to a formal legal challenge demanding that a rerun be held in in Palm Beach. Despite much brouhaha about the contradiction between Mr Bush's supposed victory in the electoral college and Mr Gore's triumph in the popular vote, the central issue here is not one of good or bad constitutional arrangements but of possible wilful fraud and/or gross incompetence.

Some legal experts called yesterday for a rerun of the election across all of Florida. This is impracticable and melodramatic. Some even suggested that the Florida non-result be discounted and the state's crucial electoral college votes be set aside. That would be a great injustice to Florida's 6m voters - and almost certainly unconstitutional. But a rerun poll in the areas where significant irregularities have been documented is necessary and desirable - and the Democrats should not feel constrained in demanding it.

For make no mistake, the pressure, subtle and otherwise, is growing on Mr Gore to concede an election he may well have won. James Baker, George Bush Snr's old buddy, requested a meeting yesterday with Mr Gore's representatives to seek a speedy resolution of the fiasco. In GOP terms, that means a deal, with Mr Gore on the wrong end of it. More publicly, Mr Gore faces accusations of being a bad loser, of dividing the nation and of breaking with the great traditions of post-election consensus-building should he fight the Florida fix. He will, no doubt, be reminded of Richard Nixon's decision in 1960 to concede to John F Kennedy despite suspicions of fraud in some Catholic Chicago precincts. But he must hang tough, difficult though that will be. His campaign manager, Bill Daley, says the Florida shenanigans may amount to "an injustice unparalleled in our history". If that is so, let it be tested in court. If Florida will not do it, then Janet Reno, the federal attorney-general, should step in and sort it out.

For all the criticism around the world in the past two days, the good health of American democracy matters to us all. The US is expected to set an example and a standard of legitimacy for others to follow. A tainted presidency, whoever holds it, cannot but undermine that vital, shining principle of government by the people for the people.